'Nobody should go through this': Wife of 'healthy and active' unvaccinated father-of-three, 36, who died from COVID-19 says she's filled with regret as she pleads with Americans to get their shots

The wife of an unvaccinated man from Alabama is imploring everyone to get vaccinated, after she witnessed her 'healthy and active' husband die from complications of COVID-19.

Josh Tidmore, 36, passed away at Marshall Medical Center on August 11 almost a month after contracting coronavirus. His wife said he hadn't got vaccinated because he was young and healthy and believed he was not vulnerable to the virus.

On July 20, he came home from work with a slight cough initially thought to be sinus trouble. His wife Christina, 35, didn't think much of it because her and Josh were thought to be low- risk of contracting the virus. 

It wasn't until Christina witnessed a doctor and her team frantically try to resuscitate her husband when she realized the severity of the situation. 

'She would say, "I need a pulse," Christina said through tears.  'I would hear, "no pulse." 

'Nobody should go through this,' Christina added. 

Josh, who fathered three children with Christina, was 'completely healthy, active, not a smoker.' 

This photo provided by Christina Tidmore shows Josh Tidmore Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021 at Marshall Medical Center South in Boaz, Alabama. 

This photo provided by Christina Tidmore shows Christina and Josh Tidmore, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019

He would have turned 37 on Saturday.  

Christina Tidmore, who also had COVID-19 but recovered, said she and her husband were not against vaccines and that their children are current on their childhood immunizations.

She said they didn't know anyone who got real sick and figured we would be 'OK.' 

'I have lots of feelings and lots of regret and lots of what ifs,' she said. 'You don't want to do that. You don't.' 

Christina urged others not to follow their example.

'If you can try to save your life, then you probably should,' she said of vaccinations. 

In spring, Josh shared an article critical of Dr. Anthony Fauci, writing, 'this is why I don't believe 99.9% of what's said about this virus.'

Now, eligible family members are getting their coronavirus shots.

Doctors say they are seeing a spike in cases among young adults and children as the highly contagious delta variant sweeps through unvaccinated populations. 

Josh Tidmore, 36, (pictured left) passed away at Marshall Medical Center on August 11, after delaying getting vaccinated due to hesitancy surrounding conflicting viewpoints

On July 20, Josh Tidmore came home from work with a slight cough initially thought to be sinus trouble. His wife Christina, 35, didn't think much of it because her and Josh were thought to be low- risk of getting the virus.

It wasn't until Christina Tidmore witnessed a doctor and her team frantically try to resuscitate her husband when she realized the severity of the situation

Medical officials say there is conflicting information on whether it makes people more severely ill or whether young people are more vulnerable to it, but it's clear the contagiousness means more young people and children are getting sick.

'There is no question that the average age of people who are being hospitalized is going down,' State Health Officer Scott Harris said Friday.

'I don't know if it's clear that delta is worse in that age group or worse than any of the strains we've seen before... But what you have though is one that is just much, much more transmissible. Because seniors are the ones that are predominately the vaccinated population in our state, the most vulnerable are these younger people. So you see them getting infected at much higher rates than we had before.'

In the past four weeks, people ages 25 to 49 years, made up 14% of all COVID deaths in the state. And people 50 to 64 years made up about 29%.

The state is also seeing a surge in COVID cases among children, although deaths so far have been rare. 

The state this week set a record for pediatric hospitalizations with 50 children hospitalized with COVID-19.

In the past four weeks, 6% of cases of COVID-19 in Alabama have been among children under five while 8% have been among children between the ages of five and 17, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Workers from USA Health test a person for COVID-19 during a drive-up clinic in Mobile, Alabama. Health officials say they are seeing a spike in cases among young adults and children

Health experts say the majority of new COVID cases are among unvaccinated people

'I am very concerned that the children of Alabama are experiencing more illness and hospitalizations as a result of COVID-19. Children can and do contract and spread COVID-19 disease. COVID-19 can be a very serious illness in children with at least 6% of children experiencing long-term consequences of this disease,' said Dr. Karen Landers, a pediatrician with the Alabama Department of Public Health.

The Alabama Hospital Association said this week that 85% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.

'It's just a fight out there. This side and that side, and political garbage... You don't know who to believe,' Christina said. She says she has no doubt her husband and her would have made a different choice now, knowing so many more people who have contracted the virus.

The U.S. reported 319,456 new COVID cases on Friday, raising the overall count of nationwide cases to more than 37.7 million

The U.S. reported 2,677 new deaths on Friday, after reporting only 908 deaths on Thursday. Florida accounted for 346 of those deaths

A jokester with a heart of gold, Josh loved to help others and to make people laugh, especially kids. 

He sauntered into Easter and Christmas gatherings wearing an inflatable dinosaur costume and ran around hugging family members. 

He would cheerfully photobomb beachgoers. He didn't hesitate to rush to help a motorcyclist injured in an accident near the north Alabama church his grandparents founded.

'He could make you feel better when nobody else could. He would listen. He genuinely cared about everybody,' Christina Tidmore said.

The family is relying on their faith to get through and Christina Tidmore wants to share her husband´s story to help people - as Josh would have wanted.